“The force surrounded the three neighborhoods and swooped onto a number of targets, according to plan,” he added.

Despite an announcement that Daesh had been cleared out of Mosul, the capital of northern Iraq’s Nineveh province, security forces still occasionally carry out operations against pockets and sleeper cells in some areas.

On Aug. 31, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the province had been entirely purged of Daesh elements, after nine months of fighting during which Iraqi forces were backed by the U.S.-led International coalition.